The Episcopal Church's chief operating officer Linda Watt said the Church Center is delighted that the Ad Council will be moving into the building.

"Their mission of public service and education, dating back over 60 years, makes them a very appropriate addition to the building that houses the Church headquarters and associated Episcopal agencies," she said. "We look forward to welcoming their staff and to enjoying their company here."

Peggy Conlon, the Ad Council's president and chief executive officer, echoed Watts' comment, adding that her organization and the Church Center "share a lot of core values."

Conlon said that the Ad Council "had a sense from the very beginning" of its meetings with Church Center staff that the two organizations would be good neighbors.

The Ad Council, which is not associated with any religious organization, describes itself on its website as the United States' leading producer of public-service advertisements (PSAs). It has been in existence since 1942. It has a history of marshalling volunteer talent from the advertising and media industries to produce, distribute and promote thousands of public-service campaigns on behalf of non-profit organizations and government agencies involving issues such as improving the quality of life for children, preventative health, education, community well being, environmental preservation and strengthening families, according to its website.

"Having produced literally thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social issues of the day, the Ad Council has effected, and continues to effect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring action and saving lives," its publicity materials say.

The Council will occupy 23,298 rentable square feet encompassing all of the ninth and tenth floors, along with half of the eighth floor. Those floors became available for rent as part of the recently completed $34 million renovation of the Church Center. The rent the Council will pay is meant to help offset the renovation costs.

The initial base rent of $38 per square foot will generate annual gross revenues of approximately $875,000, according to Watt and N. Kurt Barnes, the Church's treasurer and chief financial officer. The lease will run for 10 years with the option to renew for another five.

The 75th General Convention, which met in June 2006, approved a 2007-2009 triennium budget that anticipated receiving a net rental income of $2.2 million for the space. The 2007 portion of the  budget had to be adjusted by the Executive Council in March in part because this year's anticipated net rental income $734,301 would not in fact be received.

The Ad Council will build out the Church Center space to meet its needs and so its 90 New York City employees will not move from their current offices on Madison Avenue until late in the year.

Conlon said that the Ad Council has grown in the last 10 years as its clients require more services from the staff. She said the staff has increased to keep pace, adding that "we haven't had built-to-suit space in a long time."

Church Center offices which had been on the two and a half floors were consolidated on to the remaining six and a half floors of offices in the 11-story building. The Church Center houses program and other staff offices, a book store, a chapel, a residence for the Presiding Bishop and related Episcopal agencies. The chapel, book store and residence were included in the renovations. The book store recently reopened as the Catalyst Café for Global Good with a changed inventory and featuring café food and beverages as well as wireless internet connectivity.

When the Church's Executive Council meets June 11-14 in Parsippany, New Jersey, its June 12 sessions will take place at the Church Center in part so that Council members can see the results of the renovation.

The Executive Council approved the work on the 42-year-old building in June 2004. The decision to do the renovation came after an intensive study that recommended the removal of asbestos in the ceilings and floors, installation of new heating and air conditioning equipment, and bringing the building into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and new city fire and safety codes instituted in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York City on September 11, 2001.

The council's original resolution set a spending ceiling of $31 million for the project, but that ceiling was later increased (AF103 passed in January 2006) by $3 million to cover work not anticipated in the original plan (including deterioration of certain sections of the exterior masonry), legal fees, and loan costs through 2006.